AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
Has mikescarborough returned to the fold?
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dowlingm
Senior Member
If Clubland were to move, where would be a good place to move it to? How about northwest Toronto near the Pearson approaches - let's face it, noise is pretty much par for the course there.
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
More convenient for the customer base too.
kdub333
New Member
Just wondering...what makes College street not qualify as a club district? Yes, the places are smaller and the soundsytems are a bit more tame. Other than that, calling Richmond/Adelaide a club district and disregarding College street as such is just age discrimination - agree or disagree?
RJR123
Active Member
MC's grammar sounds like Borat
H
Hydrogen
Guest
You're asking a couple of questions. Which one would like to have answered with the agree/disgree approach?
kdub333
New Member
Sorry to confuse thoughts. I pose this:
Agree or disagree that like the Richmond/Adelaide club district, College Street is also club district for an older generation.
H
Hydrogen
Guest
I guess I would agree with respect to the issue of age. The thing is that there really is nothing like the Richmond-Adelaide clubs on College (in terms of size).
urbandreamer
recession proof
The Club District is rather like a Big Box Shopping District: mostly suburbanites "shop" there, huge parking lots surround it, a large number of stores to chose from but ultimately they're the same crap in different wrappings
vs.
College ST: Sure some are the same park'n club folk but many are Toronto locals, UofT students and people who were once students and remember the haunts. More variety, more $$$ but still--kind of all the same but still just slightly more diverse. Bonus: when bored of pasta+wine you can always go for a stroll up Palmertson, Markham, Borden, Manning etc.
So which do you prefer? Big Box shopping or Mom'n Pop diversity? Do you watch tv or produce tv (the former go to the club district, the latter to college st.)
Personally, I'm bored by both scenes although recently, I've found it amusing going to the club district just because I kinda like suburban gals (Perhaps more diverse ethnicities than college st? Yeah I think so.)
But, the truly interesting bars are to be found along Ossington now--and walking down there last night I noted another one is set to open soon. Ossington--the new st lawrence blvd imo.
vs.
College ST: Sure some are the same park'n club folk but many are Toronto locals, UofT students and people who were once students and remember the haunts. More variety, more $$$ but still--kind of all the same but still just slightly more diverse. Bonus: when bored of pasta+wine you can always go for a stroll up Palmertson, Markham, Borden, Manning etc.
So which do you prefer? Big Box shopping or Mom'n Pop diversity? Do you watch tv or produce tv (the former go to the club district, the latter to college st.)
Personally, I'm bored by both scenes although recently, I've found it amusing going to the club district just because I kinda like suburban gals
(Perhaps more diverse ethnicities than college st? Yeah I think so.)But, the truly interesting bars are to be found along Ossington now--and walking down there last night I noted another one is set to open soon. Ossington--the new st lawrence blvd imo.
adma
Superstar
The best barres in Toronto are here
ITcomputer
Active Member
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
What year was that?
JasonParis
Moderator
Despite the area's problems, I think this place will be a step above most of the others and deserves a chance...
Megaclub to open but future still in limbo
AGCO appeals own decision to grant Circa liquor licence
Rob Salerno / Xtra / Thursday, August 30, 2007
UNCERTAIN FUTURE. Circa, the $5-million brainchild of club mogul Peter Gatien, faces an uncertain future as the AGCO appeals its own decision to grant the club a liquor licence. (Rob Salerno)
If Circa survives it has the potential to be a massive landmark on Toronto's cultural and geographic cityscapes. Part nightclub, part museum, part screening lounge, the 3,000-person-capacity venue's impact is expected to be so great that owner, club mogul Peter Gatien, boasts that it will earn a place as one of the city's top tourist attractions.
"I was reading the other day an article - totally unsolicited by us - that said if you go to Toronto you've got to see two things: one is the new addition to the [Royal Ontario] Museum, the other is Circa nightclub," Gatien told Xtra on Aug 23.
It's easy to dismiss Gatien's words as mere bravado but he may be correct. In the year since he first applied for a liquor licence from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) Gatien says he has racked up letters of support for his venture from many of the city's leading cultural institutions, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario College of Art and Design, the Toronto Arts Council, The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Spin Gallery, City TV and many of Toronto's leading promoters, artists and designers.
Gatien says he has invested more than $5 million in the club, which he hopes will attract a diverse section of Toronto's party scene and where he says he is planning to host semiregular queer events. A stroll through the club - still under construction at press time - reveals kinky, sexually charged themes in many of the temporary exhibits. Among them is a photo exhibit by queer filmmaker Bruce LaBruce.
With all that cultural clout behind him and an official city plan to "live with culture," why, after an extraordinarily long 11-month investigation followed by a six-day hearing and an eventual decision to grant the club a liquor licence, has the AGCO decided to appeal its own decision to provincial court?
Circa is scheduled to open for a Toronto International Film Festival event on Fri, Sep 7 but the commission asked the court to order a stay of the decision which would have revoked the licence pending the appeal. The move would have effectively shuttered Circa until at least later in the fall after the appeal was heard. That request was denied by the court on Aug 24.
The AGCO registrar argued then that the board, which granted the licence, erred in its premises that the AGCO is not responsible to limit the number of clubs in the entertainment district and that Gatien's past legal imbroglios should not factor into his application for Circa.
"We wanted the court to reexamine the way the board members examined the public interest component and the past conduct of the applicant in other operations," says Richard Kulis, AGCO's deputy director of legal services.
Essentially, opposition to Circa's licence stems from wider complaints about rowdiness in Toronto's downtown entertainment district and the fear that a new monster club in the area could only exacerbate any policing problems.
City councillor Adam Vaughan, whose ward includes the entertainment district, says that his opposition to the club stems from those safety issues rather than specific complaints about the club.
"Circa is just one of about a dozen nightclubs that has had opposition shown to it to the AGCO," says Vaughan. "Every single liquor licence application from this community has been opposed by this office. Quite frankly I can't honestly say the city has the capacity to protect a nightclub in that neighbourhood."
While Vaughan has taken on would-be club operators directly, he also rails against both city council and the AGCO for creating the conditions that have led to the safety issues in the club district.
"We've created the situation in the city where virtually the only neighbourhood where you can have nightclubs is one neighbourhood and that's absurd," he says. "Residents have a very high tolerance for nightclubbers but at a certain point it reaches a tipping point."
In fact, many in the queer community argue a similar point because the existence of the entertainment district has been used to rationalize the rejection liquor licences for any new dance clubs in the Church St neighbourhood. Church St clubs and bars are relatively trouble-free while clubs in the entertainment district seem to operate with impunity regardless of what happens.
"Right now AGCO hands out licences to everyone [in the entertainment district] and pulls them from no one," Vaughan says. "When it's possible to pull back the licences of bad operators, people who recycle beer or sell drugs on the premises, we'll have more confidence in handing out licences. If we could get rid of the bad players, Circa would be open and we wouldn't be having this discussion."
Calls to the AGCO registrar were not returned before press time, but questions remain about the commission's handling of Circa's application. Over an 11-month investigation in which a US Department of External Affairs agent was flown in to give testimony, how much money was spent to oppose the application? Why the extraordinary step of requesting a stay? What message does it send to the business community that the government has attempted to shut down a multimillion dollar club even when the owners behind it have so far played by the rules and are supported by leading cultural institutions?
Gatien remains indignant about the AGCO's efforts to shutter his club.
"Whoever is opposing this is doing a civic injustice, that's been the frustrating part of this whole thing," he says.
Megaclub to open but future still in limbo
AGCO appeals own decision to grant Circa liquor licence
Rob Salerno / Xtra / Thursday, August 30, 2007
UNCERTAIN FUTURE. Circa, the $5-million brainchild of club mogul Peter Gatien, faces an uncertain future as the AGCO appeals its own decision to grant the club a liquor licence. (Rob Salerno)
If Circa survives it has the potential to be a massive landmark on Toronto's cultural and geographic cityscapes. Part nightclub, part museum, part screening lounge, the 3,000-person-capacity venue's impact is expected to be so great that owner, club mogul Peter Gatien, boasts that it will earn a place as one of the city's top tourist attractions.
"I was reading the other day an article - totally unsolicited by us - that said if you go to Toronto you've got to see two things: one is the new addition to the [Royal Ontario] Museum, the other is Circa nightclub," Gatien told Xtra on Aug 23.
It's easy to dismiss Gatien's words as mere bravado but he may be correct. In the year since he first applied for a liquor licence from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) Gatien says he has racked up letters of support for his venture from many of the city's leading cultural institutions, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario College of Art and Design, the Toronto Arts Council, The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Spin Gallery, City TV and many of Toronto's leading promoters, artists and designers.
Gatien says he has invested more than $5 million in the club, which he hopes will attract a diverse section of Toronto's party scene and where he says he is planning to host semiregular queer events. A stroll through the club - still under construction at press time - reveals kinky, sexually charged themes in many of the temporary exhibits. Among them is a photo exhibit by queer filmmaker Bruce LaBruce.
With all that cultural clout behind him and an official city plan to "live with culture," why, after an extraordinarily long 11-month investigation followed by a six-day hearing and an eventual decision to grant the club a liquor licence, has the AGCO decided to appeal its own decision to provincial court?
Circa is scheduled to open for a Toronto International Film Festival event on Fri, Sep 7 but the commission asked the court to order a stay of the decision which would have revoked the licence pending the appeal. The move would have effectively shuttered Circa until at least later in the fall after the appeal was heard. That request was denied by the court on Aug 24.
The AGCO registrar argued then that the board, which granted the licence, erred in its premises that the AGCO is not responsible to limit the number of clubs in the entertainment district and that Gatien's past legal imbroglios should not factor into his application for Circa.
"We wanted the court to reexamine the way the board members examined the public interest component and the past conduct of the applicant in other operations," says Richard Kulis, AGCO's deputy director of legal services.
Essentially, opposition to Circa's licence stems from wider complaints about rowdiness in Toronto's downtown entertainment district and the fear that a new monster club in the area could only exacerbate any policing problems.
City councillor Adam Vaughan, whose ward includes the entertainment district, says that his opposition to the club stems from those safety issues rather than specific complaints about the club.
"Circa is just one of about a dozen nightclubs that has had opposition shown to it to the AGCO," says Vaughan. "Every single liquor licence application from this community has been opposed by this office. Quite frankly I can't honestly say the city has the capacity to protect a nightclub in that neighbourhood."
While Vaughan has taken on would-be club operators directly, he also rails against both city council and the AGCO for creating the conditions that have led to the safety issues in the club district.
"We've created the situation in the city where virtually the only neighbourhood where you can have nightclubs is one neighbourhood and that's absurd," he says. "Residents have a very high tolerance for nightclubbers but at a certain point it reaches a tipping point."
In fact, many in the queer community argue a similar point because the existence of the entertainment district has been used to rationalize the rejection liquor licences for any new dance clubs in the Church St neighbourhood. Church St clubs and bars are relatively trouble-free while clubs in the entertainment district seem to operate with impunity regardless of what happens.
"Right now AGCO hands out licences to everyone [in the entertainment district] and pulls them from no one," Vaughan says. "When it's possible to pull back the licences of bad operators, people who recycle beer or sell drugs on the premises, we'll have more confidence in handing out licences. If we could get rid of the bad players, Circa would be open and we wouldn't be having this discussion."
Calls to the AGCO registrar were not returned before press time, but questions remain about the commission's handling of Circa's application. Over an 11-month investigation in which a US Department of External Affairs agent was flown in to give testimony, how much money was spent to oppose the application? Why the extraordinary step of requesting a stay? What message does it send to the business community that the government has attempted to shut down a multimillion dollar club even when the owners behind it have so far played by the rules and are supported by leading cultural institutions?
Gatien remains indignant about the AGCO's efforts to shutter his club.
"Whoever is opposing this is doing a civic injustice, that's been the frustrating part of this whole thing," he says.
Blixtein
Active Member
If Vaughn is against it, then this project must be a good thing for the city.
kdub333
New Member
Don't know when Twilight Zone first opened but it was there in 1985.